1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stitch-size controlled knitted fabric in which a plurality of stitches are formed by a circular knitting machine and a stitch-size controlled knit product.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional tubular knitted fabric for clothing such as a leg wear is known in which a compression region having a lower elastic property than around the compression region is formed. For example, in a sock described in JP2000-303207 (A), a compression region is formed by applying a tuck stitch or the like to make a knitting structure of the compression region different from that around the compression region.
In socks described in JP 61-043208(U) and JP 2011-074519 (A), a compression region is formed by inserting elastic material such as rubber or motif yarn into the knitted fabric. In a sock described in JP 62-015327(U), the stitch size in the knitted fabric is made larger and smaller, and smaller stitches are arranged on a round-by-round basis to form a compression region.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-195104 discloses pantyhose provided with a clothing pressure difference in a wale direction by stitch portions having two or more different stitch sizes in the same course in at least a portion of a foot portion.
However, the aforementioned conventional techniques have problems. In accordance with the technique described in JP2000-303207(A), when a tuck stitch is applied in the compression region, the compression region is thicker and harder than another region of the knitted fabric around the compression region. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the compression region from getting thicker and harder than around the compression region and to improve wearing comfort.
In accordance with the conventional techniques described in JP 61-043208 (U) and JP 2011-074519 (A), a cut yarn tail of a cut-boss pattern projects from a skin-side surface and may cause a person who wears a knit product made from that knitted fabric to have a feeling of strangeness that something exists. Therefore, it is necessary to improve wearing comfort.
In accordance with the conventional technique described in JP 62-015327(U), the compression region is formed on a round-by-round basis. Therefore, a portion which should not be compressed is also compressed unnecessarily.
In accordance with the conventional technique described in JP 9-195104, the stitch sizes are made different by using a stitch cam's operation. However, the stitch cam's operation cannot be controlled precisely on a stitch-by-stitch basis. The knitted fabric is required to have stitch sizes controlled on a stitch-by-stitch basis.